It's been a busy month of preparations for the third millennium. Here are
few stories which have come across the wire:
--Turkey entered the millennial tourism market,
--Russia established its own millennium commission,
--Canada appointed Herb Gray to head up its efforts, and
--the U.S. held its first "Millennium Evening" in the White House.

On other fronts, U.K.'s Tony Blair came out swinging in defense of the Millennium
Dome, and one enterprising group put a 24-hour live cam to keep watch on
the Dome's construction at Greenwich: http://www.independent.co.uk/cgi/dome.pl

Then there is "Yes!: The Journal of Positive Futures" http://www.futurenet.org.
They turned their Spring issue to a "Millennium Survival Guide."
Order a copy for $8.00 by calling 1-800-937-4451 and get one of the best
collection of features and directories on 2000 out yet.

This issue of "Let's Talk 2000" highlights an innovative New York
company who has produced "the world's first Millennium desktop countdown
clock." We also break the story of how a brain trust is being assembled
for a U.S. "President Jane/2000" campaign. Our "Talk from
the Forum" section contains a piece contributed by Australian Y2K specialist
Geoff Hawkes. And our Web section features the "Long Now Foundation"
which is building a millennium clock to chime once every 1,000 years.

Speaking of time, the New York Times ran a story on Feb 21st, entitled "In
deep freeze, a little air and DNA for the future." It detailed how
scientists plan to bury a biological and environmental specimen time capsule
in Antarctica in 2001, not to be opened for one thousand years. What a curious
species we are to get so worked up over those magical Three Zeros.News from the Field:"Here is the
latest news on year 2000 efforts."COUNTDOWN CLOCK AVAILABLE
The arrival of the millennium has captivated the imagination of people everywhere.
Up until now millennium clocks have been quite scarse, reserved for the
Eiffel Tower or Y2k web sites. Now Countdown Clocks Int'l http://www.countdownclock.com
of New York is changing that with the "world's first Millennium desktop
countdown timer" that "reflects the excitement that's building
every day."

Released nine months ago to the corporate premium market, the "Millennium
2000 Countdown Clock" is now available for direct order. This attractive
desktop timer features a changing LCD display, which continously shows the
exact number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until midnight December
31, 1999. For those who prefer, the clock can be set for the arrival of
2001 or for any of the world's 24 time zones. With the touch of a button,
it also displays the date and month in traditional format.

The face of the millennium clock sports a five by two inch blue galactic
billboard outlining a LCD display which reads, "Time remaining... Year
2000... the next millennium." Corporate buyers can customize the clock
face with their own unique message, such as "Investing for the next
millennium," "Y2K: Are you ready?" to "Join us aboard
our millennium cruise." Company executives state that the clock is
being used as "reminders to customers, for VIP events, or as motivational
tools to promote teamwork" toward any future special event, grand opening
or product launch.

As interest builds over the next 670 days until the millennium is celebrated,
curiosity to know how much time is "really left" will gain momentum.
The Countdown Clock hasn't hit retail stores yet, but you can order one
for $29.90, shipping and handling included. Call (516) 739-7800 or send
a check to Countdown Clocks Int'l, 734 Franklin Ave., Garden City, NY 11530.PRESIDENT JANE/2000 CAMPAIGN FLOATED
Like Forest Gump received a feather in the wind, the idea for a "President
Jane/2000" Campaign recently floated over the hills of Texas, only
to land on the brain of David Bryson, M.D. davidbry@ktc.com.

In between his job at a state-psychiatric hospital in Kerrville, 59-year
old Bryson is assembling a "female dominated brain trust" to search
for a woman presidential candidate for 2000, preferably not a professional
politician.

Bryson, a Yale '63 graduate and grassroots political activist since 1980,
says its time for "women to step forward." He believes a woman
can be elected because they are "more nuturing, international and non-violent."

He claims the inspiration to elect a woman the first president of the new
millennium came from reading The Message and the Kingdom (Grosset/Putnam,
1997). The author, Richard Horsley, describes tells how Jesus and Paul ignited
a social revolution twenty centuries ago, at the onset of the first millennium.

In view of present-day millennial chaos and contingency, Bryson thinks it
can happen again. "The engine for this political movement will be the
Internet, and we will rerun a 'virtual Jesus', who puts the poor and persecuted
first."

Bryson has invited New York actress Kathryn Walker to front the "President
Jane/2000" search. Walker has just completed her own "Millennium
Project"--which documents on film what ordinary people think about
2000. http://www.wells.edu/whatsnew/wnspch1.htm

The idea of a woman winning the U.S. presidential election in 2000 was suggested
by former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm in his 1986 novel, Mega-traumas:
America at the Year 2000. During the summer of 1996, Lamm, entered the
presidential race briefly in conjunction with Ross Perot's Reform party.
Source: Bimillennial Press, talk2000@rmii.comNOVEL SCRIPTS MILLENNIAL TRANSFORMATION
It's a far-out fantasy that some people would like to see happen. In Linda
Grover's new adventure novel, Tree Island, (due out in April) the
world is transformed by a "human family reunion" that links thousands
of millennial celebrations across the globe. The resulting zeitgeist motivates
millions to work together during the year 2000 to create a future worth
celebrating.

Inspired by the Tree Island scenario, a group in Oregon has been
formed to link millennium festivities together. The 22nd Century Group (Making
Sure We Get There) plans to invite public personalities mentioned in the
novel (ranging from the Dalai Lama to Whoopi Goldberg) to help them. "We
hope they'll say yes," says spokesperson Corrin Housley treeisle@kfalls.net,
"that they'll understand this is not an idea to promote a book, but
a book written to promote an idea."

A number of quasi-spiritual novels in recent years have built their utopian
or disutopian stories around celebrations staged for 2000; including Robert
Muller's First Lady of the World (1991) or Ed Stewart's Millennium's
Eve(1993). The 22nd Century Group is looking for volunteer networkers
in all time zones to turn the dream into a reality. For information, contact
http://www.treeisland.comTalk from the Forum: "Here is a recap
of recent conversations"BRIEFINGS ON THE MILLENNIUM BUG
by Geoff Hawkes, Year 2000 Project Manager, University of Sydney, Australia,
G.Hawkes@isu.usyd.edu.au or
http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/y2k/

How interesting that Dereck Daschke (Let's Talk 2000, Feb 1st, '98) should
write, "The diffuse anecdotal evidence of the coming year's significance
only increases the sense that there is much to do about nothing..."

Response from industry and government (certainly in Australia) to the looming
threat of the Millennium Bug, until quite recently had a similar tone. But
one now begins to sense a growing awareness that the Y2K Problem is a pretty
serious affair.

The last thing we need is panic, even alarm. However for what seems ages
(actually it is ages -- more than 30 years), because of the enormity of
the task -- not to mention the tedium -- our leaders have either turned
a blind eye to the problem or pooh-poohed it!

In his article, "Doomsday 2000", September 6th, 1993, Canadian
expert de Jager writes, "The problem is twofold: the date issue itself
and, more importantly, our reluctance to address the problem." http://www.year2000.com/archive/cw-article.html

And whilst one could argue that North's predictions are overly pessimistic
in the extreme and potentially panic-provoking, nonetheless there are more
than just grains of truth in what he has to say. His free e-mail report,
"Blind Man's Bluff in the Year 2000" hits hard and low at industry's
refusal to take the problem seriously. http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/registry/entryform.cfm

Yet it is a serious problem, and it seems unlikely it can be fixed everywhere
and in all places in time. That doesn't mean the world will come to an end....
unless Jesus Christ comes again - and then who'd care if the world's computers
fall in a heap?

The Millennium Bug is as serious as AIDS, or Saddam Hussein's threats, but
like both these problems, even though they can't be fixed, they each can
be contained. That's what is being done about AIDS, that's what's being
done about Iraq, that's what's been done about Mad Cow disease...that's
what can be done about the Millennium Bug.

It's the message we're preaching to the University of Sydney in Australia.
That each individual has a responsibility to do what he/she can to avert
the disaster by ensuring that his/her patch is "clean."

It takes no more than 30 minutes with the right kind of tools to thoroughly
analyse a computer's hard drive for software which could fail and for data
sets which contain dubious information. It takes 5 minutes to check out
the hardware, if it's a PC - you don't need to check Macs, Unix workstations
or X-terminal hardware.

It takes longer to verify network servers, and longer again for mainframe
systems - but they're both containable items for the majority of small-to-medium
organisations, even many large ones.

The key is in identifying the high risk areas and isolating them -- sounds
simple, doesn't it? And it is--but it takes recognition that there is a
problem, that the problem is firstly within rather than without, that our
first commitment is to fix the internal problem and then to isolate our
systems from the rest of the world's. CALGARY 2000: A COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
On February 11th, Darryl Barber djbarber@cadvision.com,
Chairman of Calgary 2000 wrote to the daily Talk 2000 forum:

I have enjoyed following the dialogue on Talk 2000 throughout the past year
mostly as a listener and observor rather than as an active participant.
I have found Talk 2000 to be an excellent vehicle to stay informed on and
become linked to the many exciting projects/activities being planned and
implemented world wide to celebrate the millennium....

My own personal interest in the Millennium is far more concrete and immediate.
I view the approach of the Year 2000 and the new Millennium as a wonderfully
unique opportunity to serve as a focus to engage people's imagination and
enthusiasm to undertake or participate in something special which reflects
a positive and hopefully lasting contribution to one's community (we all
define community differently- it may be just a personal self improvement,
a project with one's family or neighbourhood, your city, country, charity,
company etc.).

I am more interested in what people will think of the Year 2000 from the
other side say in the Year 2005. Will they remember it as a significant
time or at least distinguishable from every other year? Will there be something
to remind us as an enduring, living legacy which was an outgrowth of moving
through the passage of a Millennium that made a difference or continues
to make a difference (if even just a little bit) in our lives in the new
Millennium? I hope so.

It is that goal to which we in Calgary are striving. As the founder and
chairman of Calgary 2000 I invite you to check out our web site at http://www.intervisual.com/calgary2000
and take a glimpse of how we are seeking to find a real and meaningful expression
for the Year 2000 in our City.

We are the leading municipally based organization in Canada planning millennium
projects and activities and have provided a model and start up assistance
to numerous other similar organizations. We would love to hear from any
other organizations and individuals seeking to develop and promote similar
millennium projects and organizations in their communities. New Millennial Sites: "Here are
new sites in cyberspace"THE LONG NOW FOUNDATION: "Fostering long term responsibility"
This group is working to establish a millennium Clock which will ring once
every 1,000 years, starting in 2001. The Clock with a corresponding Library
will seek to correct our civilization's pathologically short attention span
connected to market-driven economies, next-election perspectives or personal
multi-tasking. Site contains proposals, long-time articles and sponsoring
information to encourage responsibility over the long-term (where long term
is measured in centuries).http://www.longnow.orgEARTH SITE: "From the Founder of Earth Day"
John McConnell makes a proposal for the year 2001, including an Earth Trustee
campaign and Earth Day '98 celebrations on the spring equinox.http://www.earthsite.org/JOHN REILLY'S HOMEPAGE: "Eschatology Reviews"
A fine collection of personal writings in the area of eschatology, history,
cosmology, alternative history, religion and literature. Reilly's eschatology
section contains articles reviewing books on topics ranging from the End-time
books, the Racist Right, Gnosticism and World Government.http://pages.prodigy.com/VBDS39A/index.htmContact Information: "Your link to
the third millennium"

T.I.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. ----------- T.I.N.S.T.A.A.F.L.
"There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."
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